Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

42

PIONEER HISTORY OF INGHIAM COUNTY

Hon. Joseph H. Kilbourne, submitted the communication from
James Seymour, offering inducements to locate in Lansing.
Bear in mind that at this time Lansing was a wilderness. The
town contained only a few inhabitants and nothing existed within
the limits of the city except the mill at the lower town and one
house, that of Joab Page, who, with his son Isaac C. Page, his
sons-in-law, Geo. D. Pease, Whitney Smith and Alvin Rolfe and
their wives, were the only residents of Lansing at that time.
On my way from home (in Aurelius) to the school at Delta in
1841 I passed over the ground where the city of Lansing now
stands. The native forest was undisturbed. No pioneer's cabin
was as yet there.
John Woolsey Burchard, originally a resident of Mason, and
the first lawyer who made this county his home, went to Lansing
in 1842. He erected the dam across the river there and began the
erection of mills. He was accidentally drowned just below the
dam in the spring of 1843.
In 1843 Mr. Page and his family came. The work of improvement continued slowly, so at the time of which I am speaking,
February, 1847, there were the house and the families I have
mentioned. Beyond this there was nothing but the fine water
power, the central location, a fertile soil and handsome county to
commend the location. The State still held the school section on
which the present city is largely built. As yet it had not found a
purchaser at $4 an acre, though a splendid tract of land. No
doubt the advantage to the State to arise from a location on so
large a tract of its own land had some influence in inducing the
adoption of this site. An influence that has been justified by results, for the State has realized a large sum for the sale of lots on
this section. But the fact that the section remained unsold shows
how little this part of the State had as yet been developed.
The discussion regarding the location of the Capital was continued in the Legislature for many days. A blank existed in the
bill for the name of the place. There was no lack of names proposed, among them appearing Grand Blanc in Genesee county,
Saginaw City, Byron in Shiawassee county, Lyons in lonia county,
and also Eaton Rapids.
At length on February 11, on motion of our member, Mr. Kilbourne, "the township of Lansing, in the county of Ingham," was